The French market is moderately higher on Tuesday after the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund reached agreement on a new bailout program for debt-stricken Greece.
The EU and IMF said Greece’s sovereign long-term debt would be reduced by 40 billion euros or 124 percent of gross domestic product by the year 2020. The agreement came late Monday at the end of almost 10 hours of negotiations.
International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde said the Fund would release its share of Greek loan payments after Eurozone delivers on its commitments made at the latest Eurogroup meeting on Monday. Carney’s five-year term at the helm of the central bank will start on July 1, 2013.
Meanwhile, Mark Carney, currently head of Canada’s central bank, was appointed Monday as the new Governor of the Bank of England. He will succeed Mervyn King, who steps down next June.
Carney currently serves as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He is also a member of the Group of Thirty, and of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics showed that the U.K. economy expanded 1 percent sequentially in the third quarter as previously estimated, ending three straight quarters of contraction.
Sentiment among French consumers remained unchanged in November, the latest report from statistical office Insee showed Tuesday.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 0.33 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.34 percent.
The CAC 40 index is gaining 0.3 percent.
Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas are gaining between 2.9 percent and 1.5 percent.
Carrefour is gaining over 1 percent after a report said the retailer plans to open new hypermarkets in China in 2013.
Drinks company Rémy Cointreau reported a surge in profit for the first half of the year, driven by growth in Asia and the U.S. The company also backed its full year outlook of substantially higher earnings. The stock is climbing 6.4 percent.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is gaining 0.5 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 and Switzerland’s SMI are adding 0.4 percent each.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets had a mixed outing. Australia’s All Ordinaries gained 0.7 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent. However, China’s Shanghai Composite Index retreated 1.3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell marginally.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks closed mixed after initially showing a notable move to the downside. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.3 percent, closing higher for the sixth consecutive session. Meanwhile, the Dow fell 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for January delivery is adding $0.33 to $88.07 per barrel while December gold is losing $1.0 to $1748.6 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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